June 6 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's competition authority said on Wednesday it opened proceedings in relation to a complaint filed by local company SA.I.E over a 170.5 million levs ($108.2 million/87.2 million euro) tender for reconstruction of the Sofia - Voluyak railway line.
In addition to its complaint, SA.I.E has also asked the anti-trust authority to suspend the tender process until it issues a decision, the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) said in a statement.
SA.I.E's complaint concerns the National Railway Infrastructure Company's (NRIC) decision from May 21 to extend the deadline for submitting offers to May 30.
The tender was opened in November last year. The original deadline for submitting offers was extended three times over complaints filed with the competition authority.
The tender is part of a larger project envisaging the development of the railway line linking Sofia to the village of Voluyak situated some 12 km northwest of the city. The project has an estimated value of 104.2 million euro, up to 73% of which will be provided under the EU's Connecting Europe Facility.
Last month, Bulgarian company Ros BG filed a complaint with CPC over a 361.5 million levs tender for modernisation of the Kostenets - Septemvri railway line. Ros BG also requested a temporary suspension of the tender, which is partially financed under Operational Programme Transport and Transport Infrastructure (OPTTI) 2014-2020.
Also last month, Galina Vasileva, head of the managing authority of OPTTI 2014 - 2020, said that the systematic appeal of tender procedures for railway projects financed under the programme causes risks of losing financing. Unless amendments to the Public Procurement Act are made urgently, Bulgaria could lose significant resources, she said during a session of the OPTTI Monitoring Committee.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)